The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has confirmed that a 5-year-old dairy cow in Hokkaido has contracted BSE (Mad Cow Disease), bringing the total number of cases in the country to 23.
Authorities had suspected the cow had BSE after initial tests last Monday indicated so – further tests have confirmed this.
The 23 cases of BSE in Japan span since September 2001. After the first case was discovered, authorities introduced measures to make sure every cow was screened before being slaughtered for human consumption.
Japan is the USA’s number one importer of beef. The country started banning the importation of American beef at the end of 2003 when BSE was discovered in the USA. The ban was lifted for a short while in December 2005, but soon it was re-imposed when a US shipment was found to contain parts of the body that should have been taken out.
Now that the USA has confirmed another BSE case in Alabama, it may be a while before Japan resumes the importation of American beef.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today